This invention relates to tubular medical grafts, and more particularly to connectors for use in making tubular connections between tubular grafts and a patient's tubular tissue structures.
Goldsteen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,178, Sullivan et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/844,992, filed Apr. 23, 1997, and Sullivan et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/869,808, filed Jun. 5, 1997 (all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein) show examples of medical procedures in which it is necessary to make one or more tubular connections between a patient's tubular body tissue structures and a tubular graft. The graft may be either natural body tissue relocated from elsewhere in the patient's body, an artificial graft structure, or a combination of natural and artificial structures. In the exemplary procedures shown in the three references mentioned above it is typically necessary to connect an end of the graft to a side wall of the patient's pre-existing body tubing, but it may also sometimes be necessary to connect an end of a graft to an end of a pre-existing body tube. The three references mentioned above deal primarily with procedures that are performed to the greatest extent possible percutaneously and through lumens of a patient's tubular body structures. Thus graft connectors are sometimes needed that can be delivered and installed via such lumens. At other times, however, graft connectors are needed that can be installed during more traditional surgical procedures.
It is important for graft connectors to be easy and quick to install (whether percutaneously or surgically), but to be secure after installation. It is typically preferred for a graft connector to be relatively flexible after installation so that it does not form an unnaturally rigid structure in the patient's body. Improvements are constantly sought in all of these aspects of graft connectors.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide improved tubular graft connectors for making tubular connections between tubular grafts and a patient's tubular body tissue structures.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide tubular graft connectors that are easy and quick to install, in some cases percutaneously and in some cases surgically, but which are strong and secure after installation.